It’s pretty common knowledge these days that Facebook “organic reach” is dead. Dead, dead as a door nail. Organic reach, of course, means that when you post something to your Facebook Page your Facebook fans (and even hopefully people who are friends of fans, or just prospects for your business) will see your content. That’s getting free reach for your business on Facebook. Well, guess what? It’s dead. Dead, dead as a door nail. Zuckerberg has all but admitted this as he has advocated over and over that Facebook is really re-focusing on friends, family, fun, and photos. There ain’t no brands in that equation.

So Zuckerberg’s message to all of you all with Facebook Pages is that you need to advertise. You gotta “pay to play” as a brand to make Facebook work. And there’s a lot of truth in that unfortunate fact. Advertising DOES have to be part of your Facebook marketing strategy.

However, I’d like to share with you another strategy that can take some dollars spent on advertising and leverage your fans and/or superfans to get more out of each dollar spent on advertising. We’ll assume you already have a Facebook Page for your business and you know the basics of how to make a post.

STEP #1: RESEARCH WHAT YOUR FANS AND SUPERFANS WILL SHARE IN TERMS OF CONTENT

The first step is to figure out what kind of content your fans and superfans will likely share. What’s fan or a superfan? Well, a fan, of course, is a person who “likes” your page. He or she is the person who’s gone out of their way to click “like” on your Page, and indicate to Facebook that they’d like to see more messages about your brand (though, of course, they won’t because organic reach is DEAD, dead, dead as a door nail on Facebook). OK, so that’s a fan. What’s a superfan? A superfan is a person who already likes your Page of course, but they are so “into” your brand that they will actively promote it. They like your posts, they comment on your posts, and they share your posts to their friends. Do everything in your power to cultivate fans and superfans on Facebook!

Along the way, you need to research what kind of content your fans like and will share. A great tool to do this is Buzzsumo. I have a paid account, but you can use it for free or sign up for a month and then cancel. Here, either:

Input your keywords like “Organic food” or “Mountain bikes” and see what’s being shared; or

Input your URL and see what’s already been popular about your brand. For example, check out Navyfederal.org or Lululemon.com.

The point here is to figure out what passionate fans like and share. So for Navy Federal we see that stuff that’s EMOTIONAL and yet about credit unions, military identity, etc., is what gets shared and for lululemon it’s stuff that folks who are just CRAZY about yoga pants and stuff like that share.

STEP #2: GROW YOUR FANS

Once you have a Facebook Page that looks good and has interesting, fun, shareable content, you need to GROW your fans. One easy way to do this is to advertise your page to grow your fans. Let me show you how to do that on Facebook. Here are the steps:

Of course, you also want to promote your Facebook Page via real-world interactions (i.e., ask folks to like your Facebook Page at the point of sale in your brick-and-mortar store), or run promotions on your website, blog, or other social channels. The point of all this is to GROW your fan / superfan base.

STEP #3: CREATE A POST THAT’S LIKELY TO BE SHARED

With a decent fan base and some good content, it’s time to return to your Facebook Page to create and advertise a shareable post. Create a post to Facebook that’s likely to be shared. This means you write a strong headline, have a good photo, and perhaps a link to your blog or e-commerce store where people can take an action. Don’t make it too salesey. You want something that will promote your brand and yet is fun, interesting, EMOTIONAL, counterintuitive… something that has all the elements of a post that your fans and superfans will be likely to share.

Here’s a screenshot of a post about me being interviewed on the “BE REAL SHOW.” My fans are “into” marketing and social media, so this post is likely to be shared.

STEP #4: ADVERTISE YOUR POST TO YOUR FANS

Then log in to Facebook and set up your post. After that, “boost” the post to your fans. Here are the steps:

Find your post.

Click on the blue “Boost Post” button on the bottom right.

Follow the instructions for the goal and button.

Under “Audience,” select “People who like your Page”

Set your budget and duration and boost it.

SUMMARY

Here’s a summary of the key tips for better Facebook marketing using your fans and superfans.

About Jason McDonald

Jason McDonald is a top-rated San Francisco SEO Consultant. His consulting services include search engine optimization consulting, social media marketing consulting, and Google AdWords consulting. Jason's motto as a consultant is that he doesn't do SEO 'for you' but rather he does SEO 'with you.' That goes as well for his social media marketing consultant activities and Google AdWords consultant services. Besides serving clients in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jason consults with clients in Silicon Valley (San Jose), Oakland and other cities throughout the Bay Area. Beyond the Bay Area, Jason is available as an SEO consultant, Social Media Consultant, and as an expert witness in litigation involving social media marketing, search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising.